Sandusky eyeing kids, filing says

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted: February 08, 2012

STATE COLLEGE - Prosecutors yesterday asked to have Jerry Sandusky kept indoors as part of his bail conditions, citing complaints that the former Penn State football assistant coach was seen outside and watching children in a schoolyard from the back porch of his home, where he is under house-arrest while awaiting trial on child-molestation charges.

The state Attorney General's Office argued in a court filing that Sandusky's bail conditions should be revised so that he is not allowed outside except to seek medical treatment. Prosecutors also oppose Sandusky's request to be allowed contact with his grandchildren.

"Several individuals from the adjacent elementary school have expressed concerns for the safety of children at their school and the adjacent neighborhood," prosecutors wrote. "Such concerns will only mushroom if defendant is permitted to roam at will outside his house."

The prosecution filing regarding bail said that Sandusky's son's ex-wife "strenuously objects" to her three minor children having any contact with him.

"The commonwealth believes that [the] defendant should be in jail," prosecutors wrote. "He has been granted the privilege of being confined in his own home, which is spacious and private and where he can eat food of his own preference and sleep in his own bed at night. House arrest is not meant to be a house party."

Sandusky, 68, has maintained that he is innocent of the allegations, which claim that he engaged in a range of illegal acts with boys over 15 years, from touching their legs to subjecting them to violent sexual assault.

As Sandusky's lawyers prepare for trial, they have asked a judge for copies of secret grand-jury testimony, the phone numbers of his accusers and other material. A 37-page pretrial discovery motion sought dozens of records from the state Attorney General's Office, including subpoenas, photos, unredacted passages of blacked-out documents already provided to the defense, investigative notes and psychiatric records.

Sandusky wants the phone numbers of his accusers so that he can obtain their phone records.

"In many cases, [Sandusky] believes the accusers may have collaborated with each other in making these false accusations," lawyer Joe Amendola wrote.